World briefs

North Korea and its ruling elite are facing additional sanctions after the United States and China agreed on a United Nations Security Council resolution punishing the rogue state for its February nuclear test explosion.Bloomberg

The US Treasury Department’s top international official, Lael Brainard, has urged Group of Seven economies to avoid targeting exchange rates and to let markets set currency levels, calling for full and timely data on the scale of nations’ interventions.Bloomberg

A new report for the Pentagon concludes that the US military is unprepared for a full-scale cyber conflict with a top-tier adversary and must expand its offensive prowess. The study by the Defence Science Board also urges the intelligence community to boost its collection of leading nations’ cyber capabilities, and maintain the threat of a nuclear strike as a deterrent to a major cyber attack.

Washington Post

Benazir Bhutto loyalists are launching an attempt to wrest control of her party back from President Asif Ali Zardari, her widower, hurling accusations that he is destroying her legacy. Pakistan is expected to hold historic polls in May. The Telegraph

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Devotees of Soviet dictator Josef Stalin, whose brutal purges killed millions of innocent citizens and made his name a byword for totalitarian terror, have flocked to the Kremlin to praise him for making his country a world power, while experts and politicians puzzled and despaired over his enduring popularity.AP

Spain is backsliding on economic reforms, fuelling risks for its banking system in the midst of an overhaul that faces “significant challenges", the European Commission said.Bloomberg

The US commander in the Middle East, General James Mattis, said he had recommended that 13,600 United States troops remain in Afghanistan after the combat mission ends in 2014, a number slightly higher than that being considered by NATO and Pentagon officials.The New York Times